


sunset in the blue

by ensos



Category: Blue Period (Manga)
Genre: Bittersweet, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Assault, Trans Female Character, can be read as platonic or romantic it doesn't matter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:27:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29392668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ensos/pseuds/ensos
Summary: Yatora finds her in the storage room behind the school.
Relationships: Ayukawa Yuka & Yaguchi Yatora, Ayukawa Yuka/Yaguchi Yatora
Comments: 6
Kudos: 24





	sunset in the blue

**Author's Note:**

> this takes place somewhere during the earlier volumes of the series! my mind is perpetually stuck there anyways lol

Yatora finds her in the storage room behind the school.

The day is too bleak, the sky is too grey, and the eraser shavings that fall off Yatora’s desk when he absent-mindedly wonders where Yuka has gone settle to the ground with an unceremonious halt. There’s something that’s bothering him but he can’t quite place a finger on it. It’s days like these that Yatora shouldn’t care—shouldn’t be worrying about such trivial matters like this. But he does. And it bothers him.

His actions come more as impulse rather than a string of coherent thoughts. A moment of brief clarity passes and Yatora finds that his hand is up, his feet are moving by themselves, and he’s out the door of his homeroom class. It’s not the first time he’s skipped lessons like this, but the feeling is somewhat different today. The sky is still the same dull shade of grey and Yatora can’t think straight. _Ah_ , is all Yatora can think, _there must be something wrong with me_.

When Yatora finds her, it’s mostly coincidence. The track is a bit farther away from the main campus, and a casual walk to where the storage room sits is far less appealing than a simple saunter around the empty hallways of the school. But Yatora is there, hands clasped around the back of his head, listening. He listens, and that’s how he finds her.

This is what Yatora remembers. The methodical slide of the storage door, the unpleasant crunch of gravel beneath his feet, and the hiccup of sobs that seem to break free from Yuka’s chest. Her back is turned to the storage room entrance, legs and arms pressed against her body in a position that is too vulnerable, too reminiscent of past memories. Yatora knows he should reach out and help, but something is stopping him. His gaze moves towards the ground.

Fistfuls of bleached hair. A pair of bloodied scissors.

Had it not been evident by those ragged cuts? That bleeding scalp?

Once more, Yatora finds that he acts more on impulse than reasoning. He reaches out to place a hand on Yuka’s shoulder, fingers trembling all the while. He nervously wets his bottom lip.

“Ryuji-“

“Get away from me _!_ ”

The slap at his hand is sharp and stings for a bit, but is nothing Yatora can’t handle. Yuka’s voice falters for a moment when she says this, her face finally turned towards the bright light that now seeps from the open door. Like this, Yatora can see the tear marks that streak her face. Her makeup has already begun to rub off.

“Ryuji, I-I… what happened?”

Yatora says this quietly, but even that is not enough to help. As if she cannot bear to look at him any longer, Yuka turns away and hugs her legs closer to her body.

“Don’t… don’t call me that. Please. Just leave.”

In any normal circumstance, perhaps Yatora might have laughed. Perhaps he’d have laughed and slapped Yuka on the back, a witty interjection slid between callous words. But this is not a normal circumstance and Yatora knows this well. He doesn’t laugh.

“Ry- I mean, Yuka. We need to get you out of here.” Yatora betrays his own trust and his eyes move towards the scissors once more. “We need to get you help.”

It’s still useless. Another pained sob escapes Yuka’s throat and Yatora quickly bends down to steady her. This time, she does not hit him away—only places a hand on his knee and lets herself sink deeper into his embrace. The day is only half over and Yuka is already so, so tired. This moment of helplessness is all she can allow herself to show for now.

“It doesn’t matter,” A sick sort of laugh tumbles from Yuka’s lips, “it’s not like the school will care. It’s not like any of our classmates will really care.”

And is it true? Will they truly not care? Yatora doesn’t know the answer and it bothers him. It bothers him that for all this time, how had he not once noticed her struggling?

“Come on,” Yatora half-mumbles, scooping one arm around her legs and one arm around her shoulders. He picks her up with ease (he’s something of a delinquent, after all), and heads towards the door. If there are any protests that come from Yuka’s end, they merely go through one ear and out the other. On a Monday like this, where the day is too bleak and the sky is too grey—school should be the least of one’s worries.

It takes a bit of fumbling with his keys before Yatora finally manages to unlock his house door. The bike ride back to his place had been quick, although the cool autumn wind had whipped at his bare skin and dried the tear-stained spots of his dress shirt. He’d given his uniform coat to Yuka to cover up. It had been the least he could do.

“Welcome to my humble abode.”

This attempt at humour only goes so far, but Yuka giggles at the comment, which makes Yatora feel as if not all of his efforts have gone to waste. He opens his arms wide as if to welcome her in. For a moment, Yuka almost forgets that half her hair is gone and there is a bloody gash in the side of her head.

Few words are exchanged in the next few moments. There is a mutual understanding that Yatora’s parents are out, the school has already marked both Yatora and Yuka as absent, and that the warm water in Yatora’s bathroom has been running for quite some time now. Yatora can only look away when Yuka takes off her uniform top, too embarrassed to do anything else. She doesn’t mind either way.

By the time they’ve both entered the bathroom, the water is not hot enough to burn, yet not cold enough to freeze. It’s just right, it seems, and Yatora is content with how the temperature has turned out. Yuka sits with her back facing Yatora, hands clasped in her lap.

There are no words to describe the feeling when Yatora raises a cup of water to her hair and runs his hands through with a slather of dollar-store shampoo. It is something so intimate, so domestic, that Yuka is afraid to confront the feeling directly. Instead, she bites her lip and pretends as if she cannot see the red-tinted water that drips from her skin and into the drain below. If there is anything she can say now, it is only these two words: _thank you_.

Of course, Yatora only hums in appreciation. It is the least he can do and perhaps, he wouldn’t mind staying like this for a bit longer.

The window outside the tiled bathroom walls reflects the world outside. Yatora thinks that the day is far too bleak, the sky far too grey for such a warm feeling (something too similar to the word _love_ ) to fester inside him.

But it does. And both him and Yuka don’t seem to mind it at all.

**Author's Note:**

> hhhhh i love blue period so much.... i've been reading it since release and i'm so proud of how far we've come as a community. i've been meaning to write this fic for almost a year now i'm so happy i finally get to publish this lol


End file.
